Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-30

twice twelve moons on the coast of Libya
(Afrl"a) that looks toward the rising sun,
Where by a river Is n great rock carven
Ike the head of an Ethiopian. Four days
on the water from the mouth of n mighty
river were we cast away and some were
own and some died of sickness. But
US wild men took through wastes and
marshes, where the sea-fowl hid the sky,
bearing US ten days journey, till we came
TO a hollow mountain, where n great city
mad been and fallen, and where there are
caves OF which no mar hath seen the end;
ana they brought us to the queen of the
people who place pots upon the heads Of
strangers, who is n magician having
knowled5 Of all things, and life and love-
illness that does not die. And she cast ewes
OF love upon thy father, Kallikrates, and
would have slain me, and taken him to
husband, but he loved me and feared her,
and would not. Then did she take us, and
lead us by terrible ways, by means of lark
magic, TO where the great pit is, in the
mouth of which the old philosopher lay
dead, and showed TO us the rolling Pillar
OF LIE that dies not, whereof the voice is
as the voice OF thunder, and did stand in
the flames, and come forth unframed, and
yet more beautiful. Then did she swear
To make thy father undying, even as she
is, if he would but Stay me and give him
self to her, for me she could not slay be-
cause of the magic OF my own people that
| have and that prevailed thus far against
her. And he held his and before his eyes
TO hide her beauty, and woul not. Then
in her rage did she smite him by her magic,
and he died; but she wept over him, and
bore him thence with lamentations, and
being afraid, me she sent to the mouth of
the great river where the ships come, and
/ was carried far away on the ships, where
/ gave thee birth, and hither to Athens I
came at last after many wanderings. Now
i say to thee, my son, Tisisthenes, seek out
the woman, and learn the secret Of life,
and If thou mayst find a way STAY her, be-
cause of thy father kallikrates; and if thor
dost fear or fail, this l say TO all Of thy
seed who come after thee, till at last q
brave nan be found among them who shall
battle in the fire and sit in the place Of the
Pharaohs. speak Of those things that,
though they be past belief, yet l nave
known, and / lie not"
MAY the Lord forgive her for that!'
groaned job, who had been listening to
this marvellous composition with his mouth
open.
AS for myself, l said nothing; my first
idea being that my poor friend, being de-
mented, had composed the whole thing,
though it scarcely seemed likely hat such
a story could have been invented by any
body. 1t was too original. To solve my
doubts / took up the potsherd and com
menced to read the close unical Greek
writing en- it, and beautiful Greek 1t Il to
have been written by an Egyptian born.
The translation was, as | discovered on
further Investigations, both accurate and
elegant.
Besides the unical writing on the convex
side Of the sherd, AT the top, painted in
dull red, on what had once been the lip OF
the amphora, was the cartouche already
mentioned as being on the S~cdrdb1uS,
which We had also found in the casket.
The hieroglyphics, or symbols, however,
were reversed, just as though they had
been pressed on wax. Whether this was
the cartouche Of the original Ka~llikrates,
or Of some Prince or Pharaoh from whom
his wife Amenartas was descended, i am
not sure, nor can tell IL it was drawn upo
the sherd at the same time that the unical
Greek was described, or copied on moro
recently from the scarab by some other
member Of the family. Nor was this all.
At the foot Of the writing, painted in the
same dull red, was The outline Of a some
what rude drawing Of @ sphinx wearing
two feathers, symbols of majesty, which,
though common enough upon the effigies
OF sacred bulls and gods, l have never be-
fore met with on a sphinx.
On the right-hands side OF this surface OF
the sherd, painted obliquely in bright red
on the space not covered by the unicaI, and
signed in blue paint, was the following
quaint inscription:
IN EARTH n sKIE n SEA
sTRANGE THYEGE THER he.
Hoo FECIT
DoROTHEA vINCEY.
Perfectly bewildered, | turned the relic
over. 1t was covered from top to bottom
with notes and signatures in Greek, Latin,
and English. The first in unical Greek
was by Tisisthenes, the son to whom the
writing was addressed. 1t was: II can not
go. TIC thee, my son Kallikrates."
This K~allikrates probably, in the Greek
fashion, Sc named after his grandfather)
evidently made some attempt TO start on
the quest, for his entry, written in very
faint and almost illegible u~nical, is: II
started to seek, but the gods We're against
me. To thee, my SON"
Between these two ancient writings, the
second of which was inscribed upside
downfall, had ii not been for the trans
script Of them executed by Vincey, L should
not nave been able to,read, since, owing to
their having been written on that portion
of the tile which had, in the courseof ages,
undergone the most handling, they were
nearly worn out-was the bold modern
signature of one Lionel Yincey, "Etate suo
~ which was written thereon, | think,
by Leo's grandfather. To the right of this
were the initials -. b. W." and below
came a variety Of Greek signatures, in uni
cal and cursive character, d what ap-
peared to be some reDetitions Of the sent
ence ''to thee, my son." showing that the
relic has been passed on from generation
to generation.
The next legible thing after the Greek
signatures was the word "RoMAE, Al U. Co."
showing that the family had now migrated
to Rome. Unfortunately, however, the
date of their settlement there is forever
lost, for Just where it had been placed a
piece of the potsherd is broken ava
Then followed a dozen or more of Latin
signatures, jotted about here and there,
wherever there was n space pom the tile
suitable to their inscription. These sigma
lures were, almost without exception. end
ed with the name "Vindex," or 1.-THE Aven-
ger" which seems To have been adopted by
the family after its migration TO Rome rs
a kind of equivalent to the Grecian 'Tisis-
themes" which also means an avenger.
Ultimately, of course, this Latin cognomen
Of Vindex was transformed, first into De
Vincey and then into the plain modern
Vincey. II is very curious TO observe how
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